Saudis Fighting Militancy With Employment

Government Pours Billions To Create Jobs

September 2, 2004|By Scott Wilson The Washington Post

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The government is drawing on a multibillion-dollar oil windfall to place hundreds of thousands of young Saudis in jobs traditionally held by foreigners, betting that greater economic opportunities will counter the rising Islamic militancy challenging the royal family.

Millions of dollars are flowing into job training, technical schools and cash incentives for Saudi companies to hire citizens. In a process known as "Saudization," some of the foreigners who have long been the backbone of the kingdom's private-sector labor force are returning home.

The new approach was on display this week at the grand opening of the Azizia Mall downtown, where Saudi men in head scarves and black-cloaked women strolled along cool marble aisles, holding cups from Seattle's Best Coffee and wandering past a McDonald's, sporting goods stores and boutiques.

Once, a Filipino, Indian or Pakistani might have greeted these patrons at the information kiosk. Here it was Hamad Anazi, 27, a Saudi in the customary floor-length white tunic and red-checked head scarf, offering a quick smile and a glossy map of the new mall.

With a university degree in computer science and ambitions to match, Anazi is among the 350,000 Saudis entering the job market each year. He holds this job, which he hopes will lead to one in computers, in part because the government pays half his $1,200 monthly salary as an incentive to his employer to hire Saudi nationals.

Starting with the oil boom in the 1970s, income from foreign energy sales provided cradle-to-grave security for Saudi citizens, mostly in the form of government jobs and lavish education and health benefits.

But those days have ended, as the kingdom's population has grown faster than its ability to provide public-sector jobs and other entitlements enjoyed by the previous generation.

"Saudi guys right now are angry, frustrated because many have training but no place to work," said Anazi, whose father retired from a police career on a comfortable government pension. "If you don't have a friend who can help you, you have to take whatever you can."

Across the Middle East, millions of young Arabs are struggling to break into stagnant job markets. Political analysts say this mismatch is generating pressure that could bring down governments unwilling to reform economies hobbled by cronyism, Byzantine regulation and rigid state control.

The problem is particularly acute in this resource-rich country of more than 25 million people, where many have long viewed work as something done by others. The government is struggling to provide economic possibilities for the 60 percent of the population under 18.

After bombings and shootouts this year that have killed about 50, the government has come to view putting more citizens to work as a matter of national security.

With oil prices hovering near a two-decade peak, it is putting some of the new income into a languishing campaign to recast the labor market with a Saudi face.

"I believe that not being able to get a job for young Saudis will lead to disaster, whether in security or moral terms," said Saleh Aboreshaid, development director at the government's General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, whose budget is blooming.

Economists estimate that the government, which receives 80 percent of its revenue from oil sales, will post a $35 billion surplus this year, almost all of it because of higher oil prices.

Saudi officials say a healthy portion will go next year to the Human Resource Development Fund, which subsidizes the salaries of up to 30,000 Saudis annually as employer incentives.

Technical and vocational-training institutes will build 59 new campuses, doubling the number of annual graduates in fields such as cosmetology, computer programming, meat cutting and plumbing to 200,000.

Foreigners now hold nearly all jobs in those fields.

Underscoring the government's commitment to the program, Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler, announced plans last week for a series of national forums exploring "youth aspirations." All employment issues have been consolidated under Labor Minister Ghazi Gosaibi, a noted reformer.

The campaign officially began in 1995 with a royal decree that private-sector companies must replace 5 percent of their foreign work force annually with local nationals.

The program contained few reforms to create jobs in the private sector, long dominated by the Saud royal family and a small number of privileged families. Rather, the focus was on clearing foreigners from existing jobs to make room for Saudis.